If, like yours truly, you saw the name Scroll of Seth in association with Play'n GO, you might have immediately suspected another 'book of' slot was on the way. However, despite the name, Scroll of Seth is not your typical run-of-the-mill 'book of' release. It does feature expanding all reel symbols, yet they're never regular pay symbols, and the way they are added to the reels involves a special Wild Reel sitting on top of the grid, done up to look like an extended scroll. So it does offer something different, yet let's not divulge too much of Scroll of Seth's inner workings just yet, but set the scene first.
As far as setting a scene goes, this is something Scroll of Seth does well. After umpteen Ancient Egypt titles under its belt already, Play'n GO has got producing the sights and sounds of this type of slot down to a fine art. Sure, Play'n GO could probably push these sorts of games out in its sleep by now, but Scroll of Seth is an attractive-looking and sounding example, regardless. The colours are vibrant, the picture symbols striking, and the tunes are as sultry as you could possibly like. Scroll of Seth might not get a ton of points for originality, yet its execution is top-notch. With one exception. Not sure about the voiceover. It sounds a bit like the guy who introduces boxers to the ring at the start of a fight or an MC who tries to get a crowd all worked up at a strip club.
Moving on, we get to the guts of Scroll of Seth, which consists of a highly volatile math model available in five RTP configurations. The default return value is 96.31%, but depending on the market can be found as low as 84.31%. Something to look out for. As is the bet selection bar running along the bottom of the reels. From there, by simply clicking the left or right buttons, players can pick a stake of 10 p/c to £/€100.
Played on a 5-reel, 3-row active gaming matrix (plus an upper Wild Reel), Scroll of Seth provides 50 paylines for evaluating wins along. Card rank symbols 10 to A are imprinted Egyptian style on stones as the low pays, while the high pays are 5 stone, jewelled symbols representing what looks like a fish, gryphon, crocodile-headed entity, a snake, and a monkey holding an eye. Apologies if we misidentified any of them. Connecting 5 matching symbols along a payline awards 0.3 to 0.5 times the bet for the royals or 0.6 to 1.6 times the bet for the premiums. Two types of wild symbols may appear in Scroll of Seth – the regular wild and the Enhanced wild, both can substitute for any regular pay symbol. Regular wilds land in stacks on reels 2 and 4, though they can be present on any reel, even added by the Enhanced wilds, as mentioned below. A line of 5 normal wilds is worth 6x the bet, and a line of 5 Enhanced wilds pays 30x the bet.
Scroll of Seth: Slot Features
The key to igniting Scroll of Seth's features is the Scroll scatter, which is present only on the third reel. When a Scroll scatter hits, it triggers the Wild Reel, that is, the reel running horizontally (when activated) above the regular reels. The Wild Reel has 2 tiers - one for the base game and an extra tier for use during free spins.
Wild Reel Tier 1
In the base game, when the Wild Reel activates, 1 to 3 enhanced wilds can land on it. In free spins, 2 to 5 enhanced wilds and a Scroll scatter may land. All symbols underneath a wild on the Wild Reel transform into wilds, while Ankh scatters become wilds.
Wild Reel Tier 2
This tier activates when a Scroll scatter lands on the Wild Reel during free spins. When this happens, x2, x4, x11 multiplier wilds, and Ankh scatters with +2, +4 extra spins can land. Only the highlighted symbols are activated. Multiplier wilds award the appropriate wilds with multipliers, while Ankh scatters award extra free spins, as well as wilds without multipliers.
Free Spins
Landing 3, 4, or 5 Ankh scatters awards 8, 11, or 15 free spins, respectively. During free spins, Ankh scatters only land on the second tier of the Wild Reel. It is possible to win up to 50 free spins.
Scroll of Seth: Slot Verdict
So, contrary to the initial supposition, Scroll of Seth does not squeeze itself into the 'book of' slot category. However, it's not exactly highly original either since the gameplay and features have been passed over from a prior Play'n GO slot titled Coywolf Cash. The two-tier Wild Reel, the trigger symbol on the third reel, the multiplier wilds, all of that came before in the wooded world of Coywolf Cash. However, Scroll of Seth is no straight reskin. Play'n GO has made adjustments here and there, so the gaming experience isn't totally the same. For instance, Scroll of Seth is slightly less volatile, though probably not in an easily observable way. This one's rated 9 out of 10 regarding volatility, whereas Coywolf Cash garnered the full 10 out of 10. Scroll of Seth can have higher multiplier values on its wilds, too, if you make it to that stage, though it limits the number of free spins you can win, whereas Coywolf Cash did not.
Perhaps the most important number for a lot of people is winning potential. If so, then Scroll of Seth wins this face-off with a figure of 5,000x the bet. So then, Scroll of Seth looks decent, generates decent numbers, and the features are, well, decent, too. What made Scroll of Seth harder to fall for was the feeling of having gone through all of these motions before. A feeling exacerbated by the fact that the previous Play'n GO slot we'd reviewed was the full-blown reskin Sweet Alchemy 100. When peeling away Scroll of Seth's glossy exterior, what was left was a repeat performance of a game that didn't wow us the first time around.
And so, another day, another Play'n GO makeover. Not quite a 'pure' reskin, as mentioned, though very close to the originator, with a few tweaks to go along with the thematic overhaul. Ancient Egypt has been well recreated on the reels, again, by Play'n GO, and Scroll of Seth's gameplay is capable of shining at times, but it was hard to shake the feeling of 'meh, we've seen this all before' by the time the review was done.
